Online story collaboration

ABSTRACT

An online collaborative story system allows multiple people to collaborate on creating a story by contributing content of various types to a server computer, where it is voted on by the collaborators or a designated editor to create the finished story. Additionally, one or more of the collaborators can be rewarded for their participation in the story.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 09/632,535 filed Aug. 4,2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,810,037, which is based on a U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/181,841, filed Feb. 11, 2000.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to networked computers, and moreparticularly to allowing collaboration by users of networked computers.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE/PERMISSION

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document may contain materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and dataas described below and in the drawings hereto: Copyright© 1999, SonyElectronics, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Collaboration software exists that allows multiple people to contributeto a single document through a network such as the Internet. However,typical collaborative software provides only review and revisionfunctions for existing documents and offers no capability for themultiple users to collaborate in creating an entirely new documentonline. Furthermore, the type of content that can be contributed to anexisting document by the multiple users is limited.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An online collaborative story system creates a story from contentreceived from multiple collaborators. The content from each collaboratorrelates to an element of the story defined in a story concept suppliedby an originator. The originator also designates himself or one or moreof the collaborators as an editor for the story. The editor decides whatcontent contributed by the collaborators will be accepted for inclusionin the story. The finished story is published for either public accessor for private access by only the originator and collaborators. Inanother aspect, the content contributed by the collaborators is reviewedin light of pre-determined standards and content that does not meet thestandards is deleted. Additionally, the originator and/or collaboratorsmay be rewarded for participating in the creation of the story.

Because the invention starts the story creation process with only astory concept, the collaborators are given more creative freedom tocraft the finished story than a system that only allows revisions to anexisting document. If multiple people contribute different content forthe same element, the editor can combine the different content. When thestory concept is a single scene, a collaborator contributes content fora scene that begins where the last posted scene ends. Multiple types ofcontent can be contributed to the story, including text, graphics, stillimages, video, audio and/or a mix of multimedia data types. Thus, thecompleted story may take different forms, such as a movie with bothaudio and video content, an audio-only story, a text-only story, or atext story with still image illustrations.

The present invention describes systems, clients, servers, methods, andcomputer-readable media of varying scope. In addition to the aspects andadvantages of the present invention described in this summary, furtheraspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent byreference to the drawings and by reading the detailed description thatfollows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an overview of the operation of anembodiment of an online collaborative story system according to theinvention;

FIGS. 1B and 1C are diagrams of a computer environment suitable forpracticing the invention; and

FIGS. 2A-D are flowcharts of methods to be performed by a servercomputer according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention,reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which like referencesindicate similar elements, and in which is shown by way of illustrationspecific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. Theseembodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilledin the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical,electrical and other changes may be made without departing from thescope of the present invention. The following detailed description is,therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of thepresent invention is defined only by the appended claims.

Beginning with an overview of the operation of the invention, FIG. 1Aillustrates one embodiment of an online collaborative story system 100.An originator 103 submits a story concept to a collaborative storyserver computer 101 to be posted in a story concepts area 109. The storyconcept may be in the form of a storyboard containing a sequence ofscenes, a series of chapter synopsis, a set of characters and apotential plot line, a starting scene, or other type of data structurethat indicates the subject matter of the story. The story concept alsospecifies the types of content that will be used to create the storyincluding text, graphics, still images, video, audio and/or a mix ofmultimedia data types. One or more collaborators 105 choose a storyconcept from the story concepts area 109 and upload content appropriatefor the chosen the story to the working content area 111. The uploadedcontent is associated with an element of the chosen story, such as ascene in a storyboard, a chapter in a book, a character, or a scene thatfollows an already existing scene. The originator 103 may also act as acollaborator by uploading content to the working content area 111. Thecontent contributed by the collaborators may be different, e.g., onecollaborator may supply an image for a scene while a second collaboratorprovides text related to the image.

The originator, or one or more collaborators, acts as an editor todecide what portions of the uploaded content will be used in the story.When multiple collaborators act as editors, a periodic vote will betaken on the content that exists in the working content area 111. Oncethe story is finished, the story is posted to a published story area 113where it may be publicly available for another other users, i.e. viewer107. Alternatively, the finished story can be published as a privatestory in the published story area 113 so that only the originator 103and collaborators 105 can view it.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1B, the collaborative story servercomputer 101 hosts a collaborative story web site and is part of, orcoupled to, an ISP (Internet Service Provider) 135 to provide the storycontent over the Internet. Client computers 123 for the originator 103,the collaborator 105 and the viewer 107 execute a conventional Internetbrowsing application to exchange data with the server 101. It is readilyapparent that the present invention is not limited to Internet accessand Internet web-based sites; directly coupled and private networks arealso contemplated. In this embodiment, an administrator of the web sitemay set rating criteria for story concepts and uploaded content toprevent the posting of information which may be offensive to some users.

One embodiment of a computer system suitable for use as thecollaborative story server computer 101 is illustrated in FIG. 1C. Thecomputer system 140, includes a processor 150, memory 155 andinput/output capability 160 coupled to a system bus 165. The memory 155is configured to store instructions which, when executed by theprocessor 150, perform the methods described herein. The memory 155 mayalso store data and content related to the stories. Input/output 160provides for the delivery and display of the content of the story orportions or representations thereof. Input/output 160 also encompassesvarious types of computer-readable media, including any type of storagedevice that is accessible by the processor 150. One of skill in the artwill immediately recognize that the term “computer-readablemedium/media” further encompasses a carrier wave that encodes a datasignal. It will also be appreciated that the server 101 is controlled byoperating system software executing in memory 155. Input/output andrelated media 160 store the computer-executable instructions for theoperating system and methods of the present invention as well as thedata and content related to the stories.

The description of FIGS. 1B-C is intended to provide an overview ofcomputer hardware and other operating components suitable forimplementing the invention, but is not intended to limit the applicableenvironments. It will be appreciated that the computer system 140 is oneexample of many possible computer systems which have differentarchitectures. A typical computer system will usually include at least aprocessor, memory, and a bus coupling the memory to the processor. Oneof skill in the art will immediately appreciate that the invention canbe practiced with other computer system configurations, includingmultiprocessor systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and thelike. The invention can also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network.

As an example, assume the originator and collaborators are fans of aparticular television series. The originator posts the final scene ofone episode and the first scene of the next episode and thecollaborators contribute content that suggests what the characters weredoing in between the two episodes. The editor(s) then determine which ofthe content should be used. In this instance, the story line continuesfrom episode to episode so the content is published at various points intime since the story is never truly “finished.”

Thus, an online collaborative story system allows multiple people tocontribute to a story by supplying content of various types to a servercomputer, where it is edited to create the finished story. The completedstory may take the form of a movie, or it may be a text story with stillimage illustrations. When the story concept is posted as a single scene,a collaborator contributes content for a scene that begins where thelast posted scene ends. If multiple people contribute different contentfor the same scene, the resulting scene may be a combination of thedifferent content. The originator can also serve as a director, givingthe collaborators particular assignments, such as a story chapter or thecharacteristics of a story character. Additionally, more than one personcan contribute to the story concept either before or after it is postedon the server.

Furthermore, the owner of the online collaborative story system maychoose to reward originators and collaborators to encourageparticipation in creating the online stories. The rewards could rangefrom simple recognition on the web site to prizes to cash. One of skillin the art will immediately conceive of many ways to determine therewards, including votes by viewers of the finished stories, and suchalternate embodiments are contemplated as within the scope of theinvention.

While the invention is not limited to any particular systemconfiguration, for sake of clarity a simplified server having threedistinct story areas has been described. It will be appreciated that thestory concepts, working content, and published stories could be dividedby topic, age group, content rating (e.g., family verses adult), etc.Furthermore, it is contemplated that private stories, from concept tofinished product, are protected from general access through conventionalsecurity and authentication processes.

Next, the particular methods of the invention are described in terms ofcomputer software with reference to a series of flowcharts. FIGS. 2A-Dillustrate embodiments of three methods that are executed by thecollaborative story server 101 of FIG. 1A. The methods constitutecomputer programs made up of computer-executable instructionsillustrated as blocks (acts) 201 until 209 in FIG. 2A, blocks 221 until231 in FIG. 2B, blocks 241 until 253 in FIG. 2C, and block 261 until 273in FIG. 2D. Describing the methods by reference to a flowchart enablesone skilled in the art to develop such programs including suchinstructions to carry out the methods on suitably configured computers(the processor of the computer executing the instructions fromcomputer-readable media). If written in a programming languageconforming to a recognized standard, such instructions can be executedon a variety of hardware platforms and for interface to a variety ofoperating systems. In addition, the present invention is not describedwith reference to any particular programming language. It will beappreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used toimplement the teachings of the invention as described herein.Furthermore, it is common in the art to speak of software, in one formor another (e.g., program, procedure, process, application, module,logic . . . ), as taking an action or causing a result. Such expressionsare merely a shorthand way of saying that execution of the software by acomputer causes the processor of the computer to perform an action or aproduce a result.

Referring first to FIG. 2A, a create concept method 200 is executed bythe collaborative story server to create a story concept in the storyconcept area. The server receives a story concept from the originator(block 201), and the method 200 optionally determines, at block 203,whether the content meets pre-determined acceptance criteria, i.e., acontent standard set by the site administrator. If the content is notacceptable, the concept is deleted from the server at block 205.Otherwise, if the story concept is acceptable, it is posted in the storyconcept area (block 207). The method 200 also receives a list of usersthat the originator designates as editors for the story concept (block209). The list may contain one or more specific user identifiers, or mayspecify that all collaborators are editors.

When a collaborator chooses a story concept to contribute to, the serverexecutes an upload content method 220 to post the uploaded content inthe working content area as illustrated in FIG. 2B. The server computerreceives an identifier from the collaborator that defines a storyconcept and an element within the concept (block 221) and receives theassociated content (block 223). The method 220 optionally determines ifthe content is acceptable in light of the standards set by the siteadministrator (block 225), and deletes the content from server if thecontent is not (block 227). Otherwise, the content is posted in theworking content area (block 229) and the editor(s) for the story conceptare notified of the new content at block 231.

Upon receipt of the notification, the editor(s) send their votes on thenew posted content to the collaborative story server, which processesthe content as illustrated in FIG. 2C. A process content method 240executing on the server receives the votes of the editor(s) at block 241and determines whether the editor(s) have approved the content forinclusion in the story (block 243). If not, the content is deleted fromthe working story area at block 245 and the method 240 terminates. Themethod 240 also determines if the story is complete as a result of thenewly uploaded and approved content (block 247). When a story iscomplete, the method 240 determines if the story is to be publiclyavailable to viewers (block 249) and posts the story in the publishedstory area accordingly at either block 251 or 253. If the content ispart of a continuing story, such as described in the example above, thecontent is published at various intervals and in this embodiment, block247 represents processing that determines if it is time to publish theapproved content. In yet another embodiment not shown, content isimmediately published after it is approved by eliminating the processingrepresented by block 247.

FIG. 2D illustrates an awards method 260 that is executed by the serverwhen the owner of the online collaborative story server chooses toreward originators and collaborators by popular vote. When the serverreceives a request from a viewer to view a published story (block 261),the method 260 displays the story (block 263) and requests that theviewer vote on the story (block 265). The voting can be in multiplecategories, such as story concept, individual pieces of content,continuity between scenes/chapters, characters, etc. The server receivesand records the viewer's vote(s) at block 267 and determines if thecurrent voting period is over at block 269. If the voting period isover, the method 260 determines the winners in each category (block 271)and resets the counts for the next voting period (block 273). It will beappreciated that the method 260 can also announce the winner(s) as partof the processing represented by block 271 or the announcements can bemade sometime later.

An online collaborative story system has been described that allowsmultiple people to contribute content to create a story. Althoughspecific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it willbe appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that anyarrangement which is calculated to achieve the same purpose may besubstituted for the specific embodiments shown. This application isintended to cover any adaptations or variations of the presentinvention.

For example, those of ordinary skill within the art will appreciate thatwhile invention as been described in terms of creating a story, itencompasses all types of story media, including pure text, illustratedtext, the combination of audio and video, and audio only.

The terminology used in this application with respect to networks ismeant to include all of environments in which a server computercommunicates with client computers to send and receive data. Therefore,it is manifestly intended that this invention be limited only by thefollowing claims and equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computerized method for creating a story by aplurality of collaborators each capable of supplying story contentassociated with a story concept over a network, comprising: making thestory concept available for access over the network to enable theplurality of collaborators to submit competing story content related toat least one element in the story concept; accepting the competing storycontent associated with the story concept from the plurality ofcollaborators if the received competing story content meets a firstpredetermined criteria; determining a selected story content from thecompeting story content submitted from each of the plurality ofcollaborators, the selected story content being approved for inclusionin the story based on communications over the network; and creating thestory from the selected story content that is approved.
 2. Thecomputerized method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the selectedstory content is conducted by online voting conducted over the network.3. The computerized method of claim 1 further comprising: deleting theaccepted competing story content other than the selected story content.4. The computerized method of claim 3, wherein the accepted competingstory content other than the selected story content is deletedautomatically without user intervention.
 5. The computerized method ofclaim 1, wherein prior to making the story concept available for access,the method further comprises receiving the story concept for the story,the story concept including an indication of one or more editors thatare selected to edit the story.
 6. The computerized method of claim 5,wherein after receiving the story concept and prior to making the storyconcept available for access, the method further comprises determiningwhether the story concept includes content that meets a secondpredetermined criteria set by a party separate from the plurality ofcollaborators and deleting the story concept if the story concept failsto meet the second predetermined criteria.
 7. The computerized method ofclaim 6, where the first predetermined criteria is identical to thesecond predetermined criteria.
 8. The computerized method of claim 5further comprising: notifying the at least one or more editors when thestory content from the plurality of collaborators is accepted and postedfor review.
 9. The computerized method of claim 1 further comprising:publishing the story for viewing over the network.
 10. The computerizedmethod of claim 2, wherein the on-line voting is performed by one ormore editors and at least one of the plurality of collaborators.
 11. Thecomputerized method of claim 1, wherein the story content received froma first collaborator of the plurality of collaborators is of a differenttype than story content received from a second collaborator of theplurality of collaborators.
 12. The computerized method of claim 1,wherein the story concept is a fictional story concept.
 13. Thecomputerized method of claim 1 further comprising: determining a rewardfor a collaborator of the plurality of collaborators submitting theselected story content.
 14. The computerized method of claim 1 beingperformed by an electronic device comprising a memory that storessoftware and a processor executing the software to perform operationsfor creating the story.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed,cause a server computer to perform operations comprising: determiningwhether a fictional story concept includes content that meets apredetermined criteria set by a party different than a plurality ofcollaborators being users supplying the content associated with thefictional story concept over a network; deleting the fictional storyconcept if the content of the fictional story concept fails to meet thepredetermined criteria; if the content of the fictional story conceptmeets the predetermined criteria, making the fictional story conceptavailable for access to enable the plurality of collaborators toelectronically submit competing story content related to an element inthe fictional story concept; accepting the received competing storycontent associated with the fictional story concept from the pluralityof collaborators if the received competing story content meets thepredetermined criteria; receiving votes over the network from one ormore editors in charge of editing a fictional story based on thefictional story concept; and including a story content being part of thecompeting story content if the received votes indicate that the storycontent is approved.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 15 having computer-executable instructions that, whenexecuted, cause the server computer to: delete portions of the competingstory content that failed to receive votes for approval; and publish thefictional story when all content forming the fictional story, includingthe story concept, is approved.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium of claim 15 having computer-executable instructions that,when executed, cause the server computer to determine a reward for oneor more of the plurality of collaborators.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the reward isbased on votes from viewers of the fictional story accessed over thenetwork.
 19. A computerized system comprising: a processor; and a memorycoupled to the processor, the memory to store information that, whenprocessed by processor, assists in (i) determining whether a fictionalstory concept includes content that meets a predetermined criteria, (ii)deleting the fictional story concept if the content of the fictionalstory concept fails to meet the predetermined criteria, (iii) making thefictional story concept available for access over a network if thecontent of the fictional story concept meets the predetermined criteriaso as to enable electronic submission of competing story content relatedto an element in the fictional story concept, and (iv) monitoring votingconducted over the network so as to include a story content from thecompeting story content if received votes indicate that the storycontent is approved or delete the story content if the received votesfail to approve the story content.
 20. The computerized system of claim19, wherein the memory further comprises information that, whenprocessed by the processor, causes the story to be published for publicaccess over the network.
 21. The computerized system of claim 19,wherein the memory further comprises information that, when processed bythe processor, causes issuance of a request for votes from viewers ofthe story that have access to the network and to determine a rewardbased on votes received in response to the request.